UEFA is recognised as one of the world's leading team-sport organisations in the fight against doping and the organisation continually strives to ensure that its education and testing programmes remain at the cutting edge of science and recognised good practice in all areas of prevention and detection.

Any player participating in a UEFA competition may be required not only to undergo a doping control after a match, but also to undergo out-of-competition controls. Doping controls may include samples of blood and urine as well as screening for substances such as EPO and human growth hormones. No advance information is given as to when controls will take place.

To illustrate the breadth of UEFA's work in this area, in the 2013/14 season, UEFA collected 2,198 samples (1,860 urine and 338 blood) across all its competitions, with 1,698 of them (1,360 urine and 338 blood) collected in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. In the UEFA Champions League, samples were collected both in- and out-of-competition. There were no positive cases in either of these competitions. In other competitions, UEFA collected 500 urine samples.

In September 2014, the UEFA Executive Committee approved the introduction of an athlete biological passport in the UEFA Champions League during the 2015/16 season. The athlete biological passport monitors players' selected biomarkers over time, and so indirectly reveals the effects of doping, as well as providing intelligence for target testing. As such, it will help UEFA's testing programme remain at the forefront of the fight against doping.

An accompanying education programme is aimed specifically at young players. Instructive sessions on anti-doping are conducted during final tournaments of all UEFA youth competitions. Educational material distributed to players helps to raise their awareness, informs about UEFA's anti-doping regulations and procedures, and prevents from committing procedural errors.

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